Geograph - photograph every grid square

This typical 17th-century, L-shaped Scottish mansion with crow-stepped gables was the town house of the Earls of Panmure. The 4th earl lost his lands for participating in the first Jacobite Rising of 1715. Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, was its tenant from 1778 until his death in 1790. It became vacant and fell into decay until restored in the 1950s. Lothian Region used it as a social centre for youth until it was sold recently to Heriot-Watt University who have still to decide on its use.

[Note: Wikipedia contains the following entry, its reference being given as 'Scotsman Newspapers': "His house on Panmure Close off the Canongate survived until 1889, but a nearby building of similar age adopted the stance of having been his house (in the same manner as John Knox's House) erecting a plaque c.1950 proclaiming itself as having been his residence. In reality Smith's residence was a far grander building than that remaining." I have since done a little research and discovered that the true Panmure House was indeed demolished in 1889, though the plaque indicating its location remains in the Canongate. The misapprehension concerning the house pictured above is unlikely to be easily eliminated, as can be seen from the fact that even the BBC and the Adam Smith Institute have got hold of the wrong end of the stick: see Link and Link (Archive Link ) ]